ACS Chicago: 2026 Legal Legends Luncheon

The 2026 ACS Chicago Legal Legends Luncheon will be on August 11, 2026 at the Union League Club and will feature keynote remarks from ACS President Phil Brest. More information regarding the honorees and the program will be available soon.

The 2026 ACS Chicago Legal Legends Luncheon will be on August 11, 2026 at the Union League Club and will feature keynote remarks from ACS President Phil Brest.

We're thrilled to announce our 2026 Abner J. Mikva, Ruth Goldman, and Geoffrey R. Stone Honorees!

Abner J. Mikva Awardees:

Hon. Rubén Castillo, Mediator, FEDARB; U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Illinois (retired)

Cara Hendrickson, Executive Deputy Attorney General, Illinois Attorney General's Office

Alison Siegler, Lillian E. Kraemer Clinical Professor in Public Interest Law, Director of the Federal Criminal Justice Clinic, The University of Chicago Law School

Hon. P. Scott Neville Jr., Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Illinois

The Abner J. Mikva Award is named in honor of the late Hon. Abner J. Mikva, a former congressman, federal judge, White House legal counsel and law professor who was instrumental in ACS’s creation. The award recognizes Chicago-area lawyers and judges who have made extraordinary contributions to progressive legal causes.

Ruth Goldman Awardees:

Kate Walz, Complex Litigation and Advocacy Director, Chicago Lawyers'​ Committee for Civil Rights

Vanessa del Valle, Partner, Kaplan & Grady LLC

The Ruth Goldman Award recognizes Chicago-area women who have made significant contributions to advance the status of women and the goals of ACS, and is named in honor of the late Ruth Goldman, who was pivotal to the founding of the Chicago Lawyer Chapter and one of the driving forces behind the first luncheon. She was a partner at the firm now-known as Miller Shakman, and also a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Department of the Jewish Family and Community Services.

Geoffrey R. Stone Awardee:

Beth E. Richie, Chair, Presidential Humanities and Social Sciences; Distinguished Professor of Criminology, Law and Justice and Black Studies; The University of Illinois at Chicago

The Geoffrey R. Stone Award recognizes progressive scholars who demonstrate those qualities exemplified by Professor Geoffrey R. Stone: scholarly excellence, the ability to imagine how society might be more just and more equal, and the determination to use the law and one’s scholarship to creatively and strategically make the imagined real.

Keynote Remarks:

Phil Brest, President, American Constitution Society

Thank you to our sponsors:

Founder: Loevy + Loevy and Clifford Law Offices

Patron: Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd and Jenner & Block LLP 

Benefactor: Margaret P. Battersby Black, Miller Shakman Levine & Feldman, The Prinz Law Firm P.C., and Sidley Austin LLP

Donor: Aronberg Goldgehn, Scott R. Lassar, Massey & Gail LLP, Mayer Brown LLP, Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila, LLP, Geoffrey R. Stone, and Worsek & Vihon LLP

Friend: Jeffrey D. Colman, Meghan J. Paulas, and Rebecca Sundin

If you are interested in sponsoring the Luncheon, please contact Meghan J. Paulas at mjpaulas@acslaw.org.